Nazareth, Emmaus earn District 11 crowns

May 29, 2010|By John Heilig | SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALLJohn Heilig is a freelance writer

Generally, the team that scores first in a lacrosse game gains momentum that, hopefully, will carry through the rest of the game. But at Emmaus' Memorial Field Friday, those early 1-0 advantages were just that, early advantages.

Emmaus scored first in the girls championship game against Nazareth, yet the Blue Eagles quickly got that goal back and had a 4-1 advantage before the Hornets could score again. Nazareth went on to win, 17-8, with Amanda Denger scoring six goals for the Blue Eagles.

In the boys game that followed, Emmaus saw Central Catholic go ahead three minutes into the game on a power play goal by Tyler Albanese. But like the script in the first game, the Hornets responded with three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead on their way to an 11-6 win. Danny Kinek paced the Hornets with three goals.

Both winning teams advance to play the fifth-place team from District 1 on Tuesday with the Blue Eagles at Emmaus and the Hornets at J. Birney Crum Stadium.

In the opening game, Colleen Ehrig scored first for No. 4 seed Emmaus 6:11 into the game. Just over a minute later, Denger responded for the top-seeded Blue Eagles to tie the score. Kathleen Bezik put the Eagles in front for good with her goal a minute later, and Lindsay Whipple gave the Eagles a 4-1 lead with two consecutive goals. Nazareth closed out the first half with a 6-3 lead.

Denger scored twice to open the second half before Ehrig scored again for Emmaus, making the score 8-4. Denger scored her fourth and fifth goals giving Nazareth a 10-4 lead.

''We were so nervous,'' Denger said. ''We were ridiculously nervous. Emmaus is a strong team and their defense is so strong. We could break down their offense and that's what won the game. We wanted to get the first goal. We were all like 'oh, no, we have to pick this up.'''

''We really wanted the first goal,'' Nazareth coach Jennifer Nolan said. ''Our goal is to get the first draw. That sets the tone of the game. the game of lacrosse is won by the draw.''

''They played very well,'' Emmaus coach Allison Moxey said. ''We told our girls that for us to win everyone would have to play their best. We were a little bit off in our transition. They're just a good team and played better than we did tonight.''

Tyler Albanese broke the ice for Central Catholic in the second game, but two goals by Danny Kinek gave the Hornets a 2-1 lead, and Will Scott's goal put them up 3-1. Matt Savage scored for the Vikings to keep them within 1 at the end of the first quarter. But Emmaus outscored the Vikings 3-1 in the secon d quarter to take a 6-3 lead at the half.

Central's game plan was to slow the game down, giving Emmaus fewer chances to score. This worked in the first half, as the Hornets only had 13 shots, but the Emmaus defense harassed the Vikings, despite allowing 15 shots.

''My defense did a good job keeping them out,'' Emmaus goalkeeper Joe Magargal said. ''They're all over the place and they keep me protected.''

Kinek led the Hornets with three goals and two assists. He also was knocked down and stayed down for a few minutes. ''I can't remember exactly what happened,'' he said. ''We can't always score first. We scored right back. They did some different defensive schemes on us that threw us off in the first half. They went from zone to man-to-man.''

''We really wanted to score first,'' Central coach Dan Dolphin said. ''We hoped we could take some momentum away from them. Once again, they're a good team and we knew they were going to come back. I'm real proud of the way my kids played. They never gave up. This is about as close as anybody's been to them''

Tad Klidonis said he was proudest of the fact that his teams went undefeated for four years.